


All of Me (loves all of you)

by patentpending



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Falling In Love, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:51:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26960179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/patentpending/pseuds/patentpending
Summary: Thomas didn’t fall in love with Nico all at once.Of course not, he’s a man of multitudes, after all.It didn’t take much more than a love of Disney, a keen ear for emo music, and a pretty face for Virgil and Roman to go flying head over heels, glowing with glee, but Thomas had never been good at agreeing with himself.or: the moments where the sides fall in love with Nico, too
Relationships: Nico Flores/Thomas Sanders, Thomas Sanders & The Sides, Thomas Sanders/Nico Flores
Comments: 62
Kudos: 645





	All of Me (loves all of you)

**Author's Note:**

> tws: innuendo, suggestion of infidelity, mentions of alcohol, and unwanted romantic advances (not by or to either of our main characters)
> 
> i can't stop thinking about nico flores someone help me

Thomas didn’t fall in love with Nico all at once.

Of course not, he’s a man of multitudes, after all.

It didn’t take much more than a love of Disney, a keen ear for emo music, and a pretty face for Virgil and Roman to go flying head over heels, glowing with glee, but, of course, Thomas had never been good at agreeing with himself.

“We’re getting into the really cool stuff now,” Nico gushed, “like, it’s _so_ interesting, because getting the lyrics and music is really only half the battle. Like, do you know anything about music theory? So in Western music – Eurocentric, gross, I know – the primary reference tone is the pitch A above middle C, with a fundamental frequency of 440 Hertz, and in twelve-tone equal temperament, all other tones are related to it by four-hundred times two to the n over twelve. So what you have to do is figure out the first overtone, which happens when the length of a string–”

He cut off himself suddenly, and Thomas could practically feel his sheepish wince, even over the phone.

“Ah, shoot. I’m rambling, aren’t I?”

“A little,” Thomas admitted, smiling. “I liked it though.”

“Uh-huh.” The sound of Nico’s laughter, rich and warm, floated through the radio waves to Thomas. “You can just tell me if I’m boring you.”

“Not at all! I’ll have you know intelligence is _very_ attractive,” Thomas purred.

“Says the man with the degree in chemical engineering,” Nico laughed. “Self aggrandizing much?”

“Hey!” Thomas protested, laughing. “You said it, not me.”

“Yeah, yeah, yuck it up, pretty boy.”

There came the sound of a stifled yawn, and Thomas winced, looking at the clock. 

“Shoot, I didn’t realize how long we’d been talking. It’s getting late.”

“Eh, thirty minutes, three hours, what’s the difference? Time’s an illusion anyway.”

"Tell that to my script deadlines,” Thomas laughed.

Nico made a noise of sympathy, deep and resonant. “Good point. Guess I’d better let you go, then. Talk to you soon, okay?”

“Yeah.” Thomas hugged the phone to his face, smiling. “Soon.”

There was a soft _click,_ and Thomas put his phone down, rolling onto his back and wondering if he looked like he was glowing as much as he felt it.

“Music theory classes would prove to be quite illuminating.”

“Gah!” Thomas startled, scrambling not to fall out of bed. “Logan!?”

“Yes?” Thomas’ logic stood at the foot of the bed, posture perfect as always and face impassive as he gazed back.

“Don’t–” Thomas put a hand to his chest, wheezing. “Don’t scare me like that!”

“Apologies,” Logan conceded, crisply taking a seat at the foot of the bed. “I simply wanted to follow up on such an... invigorating conversation.”

He cleared his throat, shuffling, and Thomas slowly sat up.

“Logan?” Thomas flashed an incredulous look at him. “Are you... _blushing?”_

“Well, yes, that is an... objective fact.” Logan cleared his throat, adjusting his glasses. “But, Thomas, I have often warned you about the dangers of drawing conclusions from incomplete evidence, such as–”

“You like him.” Thomas gaped. _“You like him?”_

“No need for such emphasis, Thomas.” Logan tugged on the end of his tie. If Thomas didn’t know better, he’d say he looked almost bashful. “I am a part of you, after all, so it does make sense that I would... participate in such an... _emphatic_ expression as this.”

“Right, but I didn’t expect” – Thomas waved a hand, trying to encompass the bewilder of seeing his cool, dispassionate Logic _blushing,_ smiling to himself over a boy – “this.”

“Drawing conclusions from incomplete evidence,” Logan sniffed, turning his nose up. “There is no reason this should be a surprise or an... issue.”

“Right. Right!” Thomas caught himself. “My apologies, Logan. I didn’t mean to imply anything about your feel- your thoughts on the matter.”

“Quite alright, Thomas,” Logan said, face and voice carefully neutral. “Although I confess I believe it’ll do you some good to have an... intellectually stimulating partner.”

“Yeah,” Thomas agreed, cautiously, before risking a smile, conspiratorial. “I think it’ll do us both some good.”

“Well, I do suppose that he’s...” Logan half-turned, but Thomas couldn’t miss his smile – small and glowing – or the way his eyes shone. “Clever. That analysis of the physics of sound waves really was...” Logan let out a small, almost breathless laugh. “Brilliant,” he said, softly, reverently.

“You know,” Thomas hedged. “We could always call him later. Ask for a follow-up. See if he has any interesting articles for us to read.”

“Yes,” Logan said, quickly, then blanched. “Ah, well, I suppose. If that is something you want, I- er-” 

He took a deep breath, and Logan, finally, let himself smile – small and secret but so honest it ached something inside Thomas. “That sounds wonderful.”

“I am so, so sorry, Thomas,” Nico, hair – rather handsomely – tousled and expression harried, met him at the door of his apartment. “I tried to call you, but it had that automated thing that said you were driving, and I–”

“Hey, hey, it’s all good,” Thomas said, trying to ignore the way Virgil hissed in his ear Nico was lying to blow their date off _I knew he was too good for us–_ “Is something wrong?”

“Not... overtly,” Nico winced. “My Tia Lydia’s babysitter had a family emergency, and I’m the only one in driving distance so–”

“Niiiiicooo!” Came a shrill voice from inside. “You said we could play pirates!”

“My cousin Catalina is staying with me for the next hour while her mamí finishes a client consultation.” Nico sighed. “I am so sorry. We can reschedule, if you want, or you can go back home and relax for an hour–”

“Nico!” That insistent voice came again, this time accompanied by a kid, no older than six, barreling into Nico and clinging to his leg. “Pirates!!!”

“Ay, tienes que ser paciente, ‘Lina,” he scolded, softly. “We have a guest.”

The dark-haired child looked up at Thomas with big brown eyes. “Do you like pirates?”

Patton and Thomas melted at the exact same time. 

“Well, yes, but you can never play cards with a pirate, you know,” Patton said, Thomas echoing him as he crouches down to talk to her.

Catalina scrunched up her nose. “Why now?”

They grinned. “Because they’re always standing on the deck!”

She burst into giggles, little hands grabbing onto Thomas’ arm. “Come play!”

“Oh, ‘Lina, you can’t just–” Nico started, but Thomas cut him off by rising with a smile.

“An hour with you two will be much more fun than hanging out with myself,” Thomas said, laughing. “Besides, I’ve got you to protect me from any vicious pirates, don’t I?”

Nico flashed a wry grin. “Oh, Thomas, I don’t think there’s a force on Earth that could save you from this scallywag!”

He scooped his little cousin up, and she screeched with laughter as he swung her around, crying dramatically about how treacherous the waves were.

Nico was so delicate, so attentive to her make-believe world, nodding seriously as she explained the exact terms of the parley and making dramatic dying noises as she stabbed at him with her wooden sword.

He was handsome in a way Thomas had never seen on anyone before – clothes rumpled and eyes bright and smile just as bright as it was fond.

 _“Oh,”_ Patton breathed, one hand pressed to his heart, and Thomas was inclined to agree. “He’s, ah...”

Patton laughed, breathy. “I think you found a good egg there, kiddo.”

“Yeah,” Thomas breathed, finding Patton’s hand and squeezing. “I think so too.”

It had been a few months when Thomas decided they needed to have The Talk.

No, not the ‘defining the nebulous what are we’ conversation. They hadn’t had _that_ The Talk yet, but it didn’t scare Thomas as much as he would’ve thought. It didn’t scare him at all, really. He trusted Nico, which is why he thought it was important to have his... special version of The Talk.

“Hey, pretty boy,” Nico flashed that lazy, easy grin as he slid into the booth seat next to Thomas, then he paused, brow furrowed. “Hey, everything good, Thomas?”

“Yeah, we just...” Thomas huffed his bangs out of his eyes. “We need to talk.”

Nico tensed. “Oh.”

“Nothing bad!” Thomas rushed to reassure him. “Nothing bad at all, I swear. There’s just something I have to tell you, and it’s kinda... weird?”

“O-kay.” Nico made a little flourish. “The floor is yours.”

“Right.” Thomas huffed out a breath, lacing his fingers together in his lap. “Okay, so you know how I talk to myself a lot?”

“Whaaaaa,” Nico fake-gasped, “no. What a revelation.”

“Cool it, man,” Thomas laughed, knocking their shoulders together. “I can only handle so much scathing sarcasm per day.”

“You delicate little _flor,”_ Nico clucked, mischief still dancing in his eyes. “How do you hang out with Joan, then?”

Thomas broke, burying his face in Nico’s shoulder as he laughed. “You’re ridiculous.”

“You’re smiling,” Nico countered, nudging him gently. “Hey, come on, Thomas. You can tell me anything, no matter how weird. No need to worry, I promise.”

“Right.” Thomas took a deep breath. “So, I talk to myself in a... literal sense. As in, I see – er, visualize? – myself in other places. But they’re not... _exactly_ me-me.”

“Oh.” Nico blinked. “So you occasionally talk to... clones? Head clones?”

“Sorta?” Thomas winces, rubbing the back of his neck. “Not really, though. They’re not _separate_ people or anything like that, they’re just...” He waves, vaguely. “Part of my personality with... A little more personality. They’re just in my head, for the most part, but they’re... real. To me at least.”

“Okay,” Nico nods, slowly. “So, basically, you can just... summon identical copies of yourself? Like exactly identical? Just whenever?”

“Uh, more or less, yeah.” Thomas squints at him. “What’s that look for?”

“Well, I _would_ tell you...” Nico grins, wolfishly, then bites his lip – teeth white and straight (unlike him) and eyes dark and mischievous. His arm stretches across the back of the seat and around Thomas’ shoulders. “But we’re in public right now.”

Behind Thomas comes a familiar, chilling laugh – like nails on a chalkboard.

“Oh,” Remus grins. “I _like_ this one.”

"Going out again?”

“Yes, Janus,” Thomas sighed, giving himself a final once-over in the mirror. “I _am_ going out on another date with my boyfriend. Thank you so much for asking.”

“Hm.” Janus made a small, judgemental noise from where he was perched on Thomas’ nightstand, examining his gloves. “I do hope _he’ll_ be paying for the meal?”

“We’re splitting the bill, Janus,” Thomas said, with far more patience than he felt. “Just like we always do.”

“Ugh.” Janus pulled a face, slithering to Thomas’ side and fixing his shirt collar, muttering. “What’s the _point_ of having a boy toy if you can’t make him pay for stuff?”

“You’re thinking of a sugar daddy,” Thomas said, wryly. “And, oh I don’t know – companionship, pleasant evenings, intimacy?”

“Don’t be lewd, Thomas.” Janus stuck out his forked tongue, making a gagging noise. “As much as I _love_ watching you get yourself into a tizzy over _some guy,_ don’t you think there could be more _advantageous_ matches? Ooh, I’ll tell you what, I _just_ heard about a director over in Miami who's been having marital difficulties–”

“No, Janus, we are not seducing married directors to further our career.”

“Hmph.” Janus crossed his arms, then lit up. “What about–”

“We’re not seducing single ones either.”

Janus pulled back, sullen, and looked at Thomas, lip pouted and eyes big.

“The snake-puppy eyes only worked on me the first few dozen times,” Thomas said, wryly. “I’m afraid I’m impervious now.”

“Curse my incredibly adorable but limited arsenal,” Janus muttered.

“Right. Well then, I think I’m going to go now. On a date. With my boyfriend. Who I like a lot.”

“Don’t let me stop you,” Janus said, physically lounging across the entire doorway. “Please, be my guest.”

“I think I will,” Thomas snipped, ducking beneath him, and ignoring the angry hisses.

“Hey, guapo.” Nico stood there, smiling, as Thomas swung open the door. “Ready?”

“More than,” Thomas said, taking his arm. “Any big plans?”

“Wonderful plans,” Nico corrected. “Step one: pick up the cutest guy I know.” He kissed Thomas’ forehead. “Check.”

Thomas laughed, glowing, even as Janus gagged.

“And step two?”

Nico just smirked, eyes dark as they began to walk. “You’ll see.”

“Ugh,” Janus scoffed. “Not everyone can pull off sexy and cryptic like I can.”

Thomas shot him a warning look, but Janus ignored it, continuing to slither along, uncomfortably close.

"I really _do_ think you should hear me out here, Thomas,” Janus purred. “being in a relationship with someone who can’t improve your status – I genuinely don’t see the point. That’s a waste of time and energy that could be used on yourself! But _no,_ you get the absolute _pleasure_ of hearing every _delightful minutia_ of someone else’s dreadfully dull day, and you have to pretend to pay attention! And care! And actually invest your own mental health and energy into them! Why not just _preserve_ it and keep yourself–” 

“We got company?” Nico asked, and Thomas jumped.

“What?”

He laughed. “Sorry, tesoro, you just seemed a bit distracted.” He glanced around. “So, who’s here?”

“Janus,” Thomas admitted with a sigh, nodding in his direction. “He’s been badgering me all afternoon.”

“Ah, the one that still doesn’t like me?” Nico raised an eyebrow and flashed a smile in Janus’ vague proximity. “Hey, Janus.”

Janus hissed at him and stalked away, nose raised.

“He says hi,” Thomas lied, blithely.

“Buttering me up gets you nowhere,” Janus informed him.

“Fully doubt that,” Nico said, dropping a kiss on Thomas’ temple, “but thanks anyway.”

“Can’t blame a guy for trying.” Thomas clicked his tongue, smile wry. “Anyway, how’s that new song you’re working on going?”

"Oh! Actually...” Nico lit up, launching into a spiel about a concept album he had been collaborating with a composer and singer on – a cyber rock critique of big business, as told from a rebel camp.

They chatted pleasantly until Nico stopped them before a glowing neon sign – _The Barcade._

Thomas blinked up at it. “What’s this?”

“Just the largest collection of vintage video games in a hundred miles.” Nico flashed him a smile. “I know you’ve been feeling stressed lately, and you said video games were your favorite way to unwind so...” He shrugged. “Thought you might like it.”

“I _love_ it.”

“Come on then, pretty boy.” Nico grabbed his hand and tugged him along, flashing that smile over his shoulder. “Play your cards right, and I’ll let you buy me a drink.”

Thomas caught up, laughing. “Don’t think I’ll go easy on you just because you’re cute.”

Nico held the door open for him, eyes lidded. “You sure about that?”

Thomas nearly tripped.

“That’s what I thought,” Nico said, laughing, as he followed him in. “So, what first? How do you feel about Frogger?” 

“Uh...” Thomas and Janus exchanged winces. “Let’s go for air hockey.”

Nico won all of their games soundly, although Janus and Thomas both insisted very loudly that they had just been letting him win.

“Sure you were,” Nico said, voice as wry as fond. They had been together for months, but that smile still turned Thomas’ stomach to water.

“I told you I’m not interested,” a woman at the bar counter said, clipped, to the man sat beside her.

“Just your number, honey?” he said, leaning forward. “You really need a nice guy like me looking out for you when you’re here all alone.”

“Oh, son of a–” Nico muttered to himself before strutting forward, plastering a smile on his face.

“Hey, polla, how you been?”

Thomas froze, and the man looked just as bewildered. “I’m sorry, do I know you?”

“Course you do!” Nico chirped, eyes darting back and forth between the guy and his unfortunate companion. “Come on, man, high school bible camp by lake capullo?”

She took the hint and sided away, disappearing into the crowd.

“I’m, ah, not the religious sort,” the man said, shifting awkwardly.

“Really?” Nico said, blithely. “Someone with such _fine_ manners as yourself?”

He grinned and clapped the man on the back before he could do anything more than sputter.

“Come on, buddy, I told you not to have so many,” Nico clucked, then gestured behind the counter. “Hey, bartender! I think my pal here needs a cab. Oh, and add my drinks from tonight to his tab, would you?”

“Wait, no, I–”

Nico slipped away, grinning, as the man started protesting to the weary barkeep.

“What was that all about?” Thomas asked, incredulously. “I thought you hated lying.”

“Yeah, well,” Nico laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. “It can be good sometimes.” He grabbed Thomas’ arm, eyes lit with mischief. “Come on. We’d better make our getaway before he realizes I just insulted him like five times.”

They speeded to the exit, hand in hand, biting back grins, as Janus, slithering along, cleared his throat.

“Well,” he said, crossing his arms. “I suppose he can be... useful. That was... a passable display.”

His human half was flushed bright red, but neither of them commented on that.

“Thomas?” Nico glanced back at him, grinning. “You in there?”

“Yeah! Yeah, I’m just...” Thomas let out a laugh, wild and free as they raced for the door. “Just finally agreeing with myself on something.”

**Author's Note:**

> I really just see the opportunity to write a canonical POC in this fandom and go buckwild huh.
> 
> judging by my uploads from the past two days, i'll be back tomorrow with a 10k fic dissecting Nico's backstory, retelling the events of the episode from his POV with /his/ sides, and idk writing their proposal or something /j
> 
> [anyway reblog here to join the Nico Flores stan club](https://impatentpending.tumblr.com/post/631727175116177408/all-of-me-loves-all-of-you), bookmark, smash that kudos button, and drop a comment below for me to give you a tiny smooch on the forehead
> 
> and as always ROAST ME IF YOU SEE A TYPO, COWARDS


End file.
